Who Knows Anything?

The Sunday papers are full of articles all about “Do we Brits Have No manners?’ or “Are We Misusing the English language?”.

This argument about bad manners particularly makes me smile as I believe the middle classes adhered to ‘manners and rules’ as a way of making the under classes feel put down. Where as in fact, when I see some middle class woman berate a shop assistant in her snobby down talking manner, I know that the poorest, glue sniffing junkie I know would NEVER speak to anyone like that in their life, because they were NEVER brought up to speak to people in that manner. The junkie may steal your handbag, but he would never make snide remarks about your bad taste in hats.

The most recent mudslinging match in the run for the Conservative Leadership is a great example of middle classes displaying the worst amount of bad manners! The camp behind the prospective leader David Davis, hung out of their windows like Glasgow fish wives telling everyone who would listen that David Cameron took drugs and has a drug addict in his family! Where I come from in the East End of Glasgow, exposing people’s private lives in such a public manner to make sure they never got a job they applied for would be seen as a good excuse for a slap and social exclusion to the next street booze up!

I remember getting into trouble at school when I was around 13 years of age. I got my mammy to come up to the school as the teacher had slapped me and I was scared. When my mammy reached the school office, I watched that nasty blonde fat head mistress look down at my mammy’s burst plastic shoes, her unkempt hair and tatty coat. The woman sneered at mammy and put her down with a few sharp words, my mammy was slightly intimidated for a few moments, then regained her composure, stood back, raised her fist and punched the woman square in the face.
It wasn’t very good manners on my mammy’s part, but by fuck it was worth the look on that fat condescending blondes face as she fell over a desk. My mammy might have been poor, dirty, unkempt with no manners but she knows how to punch a woman who hits her child. By the way mammy’s language was very un-English, in fact she called the woman a fat, scabby cunt who canny huv kids!